by M E Wise
“T’Mir!” I couldn’t believe my eyes. A leader of the Tah’l council had no knowledge of my existence or why I was on Mor’h. This was something incredible to learn. I felt T’Mir’s anger and his struggle to keep Q’ua Z stunned as his Lo’Nar went about searching the room. Suppressed memories began to pour forth like I was experiencing them in real time.
I was so small and frightened. I could feel my tears run heavy down my face. A large feminine figure approached me. Her hands were gentle but strange. I rose high from the floor and her soothing caress settled my fears and this odd sensation, however new was greatly comforting. The smell of her lingered and mesmerized my senses. Her bosom was tight but not masculine. Her thoughts were calming and seemed to resonate like a song and she was completely engrossed in who and what I was.
My tiny hands reached for her thin and strange fingers. I looked to her face and it was S’lei! All of those years ago she had held me without me even knowing it. Her large oversized eyes were glowing with love. I could feel it intensify as we connected in the link. S’lei loved me and the hope I brought inspired a deep union. T’Mir’s anger waned in the link. He had no tongue for my words, neither did S’lei. Their expressions desired a way to communicate but my infantile age prevented any use of sharing to build a palette of exchange on. Feelings were the only way they could share with me and those were the spoilers in a telling. Somehow I knew this? Of course! It was the link I know well now.
They didn’t hide anything from me, it was me that couldn’t understand any of it. I was alien to them, as I always felt; not because they couldn’t accept it but they couldn’t ignore the truth of it. The sharing wasn’t my language yet. I hadn’t developed many skills yet. But I could feel my confusion grow, and theirs as well. T’Mir and S’lei exchanged the circumstances quickly. They were trying to solve the truth of my nature. They stood in front of a graphic, that graphic was strands of DNA. Offsetting this graphic was another being, human but different. I saw this clearly. I remember it clearly!
I brought up the link panel in the opal craft. I connected to a monitor nearest Dae in the sensory network. She seemed taken back at first. “I understand now. It was in the link the entire time. I just didn’t have the ability to understand or probe deeper to find the truth. They marked all of the trial patients in their DNA for tracking. Later generations filtered that tracking identification into junk code in their DNA! My markers were a distinctly new set of tracks.” I yammered on!
“Reign, where are you? What are you carrying on about? DNA trackers and what?” Dae was half asleep.
“I needed some time away, I’m sorry Dae but I have much to talk to you about. Can you give me a few minutes?” I was begging but there wasn’t a need. This was my wife and Dae knew I wasn’t one to react this way. She sat up and straightened in her chair. “I gave a speech at the council and afterwards had a very revealing conversation with S’lei on my existence but that isn’t why I am talking to you now; this is about the Halfers!” Dae seemed diligently awake now.
“I have Q’ua Z’s notes here; well not notes, more like memoirs and some vague catalogue of events.” I needed to focus, my mind was still trying to put the pieces together. I wasn’t a scientist by any stretch. “When Qz acquired me from Luna, he wasn’t acting on any orders given by the council. They weren’t even aware. He was using the array to track genetic variance in the system. He never stopped searching for a fix to the Mor’h’s genetic issues. I was an entirely new signature! Something they hadn’t considered but hoped for.”
“We know this Reign!” Dae was flustered, probably torn between my ramblings and my absence.
“Please hear me out.” I again begged. Dae adjusted herself on the chaise lounge she had fallen asleep on. “In a link, from the tablet I have of Qz’s study of me, he was discovered doing so in secret. He was studying how I could affect the Mor’h’s genetic faltering much like with other human beings. He needed certain traits.” Dae seemed to get anxious being told things she could probably explain much better. “Bear with me! Traits that could be manipulated.” She perked up.
I labored with my point. “In the sharing he was looking for markers in the code that were almost identical!”
Dae’s hands went into her hair and lifted it slightly. She was energized. I think I may have got the point across. “They needed certain junk code to implant their works. They needed space to store the new genes and the tracking code. Where those are attached is where the death timer gene is!” Dae was moving to get dressed quickly. “If we can’t stop the exchange of the genes we can at least make the gene inert. It was in you the entire time! Your DNA has developed the protein, a new enzyme or new information to repair the chain. Reign we can stop them from dying!” She was enthralled.
“Do you have my DNA in supply?” The question seemed to unsettle Dae.
“Of course babe.” She furrowed her brow. “You’ve spent a great deal of time in the tanks; we have more than enough. Why? Aren’t you coming home?”
There was a long pause in the exchange. We stared hard at each other. She knew me better than any person alive and was resolved to accept I wasn’t coming home. “Be careful love.” She said with a tight grin. I dipped my gaze low to the beach sand below. “Soon.” I said and closed the link. I turned again to the black package.
There was a file of holo videos Q’ua Z had made. I was much older in these videos; I would say I was at least eight or nine Earth years. The room was more familiar too, it was the room I had at the Columns. I could feel my restlessness, something that hasn’t changed much as I watch this video now.
“Why do you watch me?” I said curious and annoyed. “You always watch me?
“I am charged with your care.” Q’ua Z answered coldly and calculated.
“Why do you talk to me now?” I responded in turn the same. “You didn’t always talk to me.”
Qz didn’t entertain my childishness. Wan Sah moved into frame and presented me with different gourds from the many varieties around Mor’h. There were three shown to me. “Which of these is poisonous?” She asked. I looked at them closely and even closer at her. She waited still and unmoving.
“Why does it matter? I never go outside. You just stare and ask questions.” I ignored their wants and they ignored mine.
Q’ua Z took the gourds and laid them on the floor. “Play with them at your own risk.” He was only interested in the result. Qz wasn’t being cruel or even careless. I was a lab rat that held their future in my hands, or so they hoped. I kicked one gourd hard against the wall and picked up another and threw it aside. I left one, the brightest of them alone.
“How did you know?” Wan Sah kept her distance and was impressed for all I could sense.
“I don’t know. It was too different I guess.” The notion was something I knew well.
At this stage in my life they were very careful not to allow too much outside influence into my developing person. I had limited holo use and any entertainment I was given was learning about Earth; the languages, the cultures and their behavior. They held that like a carrot on a stick. I resented my life. Much like I resent it now. I couldn’t decide if I was so inclined to resent everything because it was my nature or how I was nurtured. Another video caught my attention.
We were outside on a rare occasion. I was slightly older but not by much. Q’ua Z wore a stunner and was standing completely still in a thick of tall grasses. I was foraging in a clear area for rock samples and different specimens we were studying. Wan Sah was nearest to me and observing my methods and sensing how I went about my decisions. I could feel in the link my hesitation and a desire to flee, but I had the common sense to stay safe.
“Today you will have a-treat!” She said mechanically. She turned her attentions toward Q’ua Z.
The ground rumbled and I laid my ear to it. The rustling grew louder and louder as if it was baring down on us and it was! I stood to see above the grass line and a beetle the size of three Lo’Mor’h combine
d barreled toward Qz! A loud zapping sound followed by a bolt of light fired from Q’ua Z’s wrist bringing the beast to a skidding stop.
I ran hard to the scene. “You killed it!”
“The Insectae is unharmed.” Wan Sah corrected my brashness. “Link with the creature.” She said while gently pushing me toward it. “I don’t want too.” I said sheepishly. She motioned forward again more intently. I still resisted the act. I felt a sharp link enter my mind. Q’ua Z was creating a web-work of group links. Myself, Wan Sah and the large beetle
-crab-like creature were in the connection.
“Know its existence and its moments.” He said. My mind felt crowded but the presence of the Insectae’s mind was so simple and driven by need. I felt curious to know more. Both Wan Sah and Qz drifted from the connection. The large bug was unconscious but without a conscience. This moment would be nothing but a happening most likely forgotten when it’s senses once again felt threatened waking up in front of us. There was no malice, no intent, only feral responses. I focused on what it was. Under the carapace on the thorax above the abdomen were thousands of larvae.
“Babies?” I asked louder then I intended too. The link made two modes of communication awkwardly out of control at this age. Wan Sah gestured this to be true. I felt the beast stir and broke the link. I tripped backward and laughed at how startled I was.
“Living things have a purpose; higher or simpler.” Qz spoke clearly. “That purpose is either subconscious or conscious. All things choose on this level.”
I found this video very odd. The Mor’h rarely acted on their own desires. They were a universal conscience when it came to the modern world in their diplomacy, but they held themselves high in the chain of being. When Q’ua Z made decisions without other’s knowledge, Qz himself broke from tradition and in desperation or infamy brought me to Mor’h against council. My very existence would ignore all of their values that they espoused so readily. I could see all of this as some grand philosophy without a set of tenants to support the practice of it. But as the Mor’h were; they shared existence in a different way.
I remember my Lo’Don’s focusing on my telling’s. When I suffered something horrible I would sometimes find my thoughts wandering on those moments. The death of my mother was the most profound of those moments until recently. They called this spoiling. If I didn’t come to terms with the things that were subconscious then I would always suffer them again in the sharing. Plants do not grow well in spoiled soil.
I suppose this is what S’lei intended to show me. She tended a garden not for the garden’s sake but for everything in the garden. Everything that lives within the garden naturally is needed there or has needs there. Some still struggled with this philosophy; this truth. Much like I struggle now with my place in a future I didn’t think I would survive into. The longer I live the more responsible I am for the garden. The more I exist in the soil, the more that relies on me being there. The rest is shared.
Q’ua Z feared his place in the garden was being threatened, coming to a close and that those tending it weren’t aware of the weeds for admiring them. Everything was becoming so much more clear. I needed to share with Dae all of these concerns and let her decide what that means. The only other choice is to meet oblivion for an everlasting solace no one tells tales of.
I arrived with the morning light on the pad below the Cresche. I wanted to take a moment and stretch my legs among my people before taking Dae away from her endeavors. Little Tengoku was all but asleep. I stepped off the new pad midway up in the cliff-side dwellings and looked across No Man’s land and further out into the sea, the colors merged together and became one continuous plane. I have come so far from that child in a lab. So many things have changed so quickly. We all have adapted very well considering all of it too.
“The king returns!” Came Ben’s voice from an apartment near the landing. His voice carried well off the plateau wall and over the silent colony. He stretched as he turned the corner in his unique vacuum suit. “Working men have to be up early, early!” He squinted his nose and eyes as he neared me. “So why are you up?” He laughed at insulting me.
“Your charms will be the stuff of legend!” I joked back while walking further down the path.
“What’s that supposed to mean? Will be?” His voice trailed behind me. “Bro?”
I didn’t want to linger. My comment was off base and I knew Ben had no idea what I meant by it. I was only kidding, as he would with me but I expressed a sting in my tone that I knew he couldn’t understand. The bizarre and community area below had some traders already opening storefronts. They made little notice of me. A shirtless Brigs was ahead however and he looked to talk. His chest held uniform injection ports that were no longer used and scarring from rapid muscle growth and wounds from many battles.
“Morning Sir!” He saluted me with his words. “We’ve noticed your absence. Is all well?”
“Fine Brigs, fine.” I knew he could read through my guise. “How are the new security measures working?” The change of subject to something he would find more to his liking may be the distraction I needed. He worked the top of his vacuum suit up and on, then covered it with some older styled military top. “The drones are a nice change. They work very well against random buggers crawling out of the desert. Concerned?” Brigs pressed.
“I have the best man on the job.” I rarely complimented Brigs on his effectiveness. “No worries unless you have any.”
“Thank you, sir.” He paused and stood tall and broad, towering with his head tilted in search of the thing not being said. “You can find Mayor Taiyou with Hermes near the basin for further briefing.” I took my leave on this note. The designation of Mayor was a recent appointment the Tri-Utopian council decided around the fire. I agreed after the fact. Taiyou had more than earned the distinction. “Reign it is so good to see you!” Taiyou called from a good distance away. He made his way quickly for an older man. “Do you fair well?” He shook my hand earnestly and hard. “Can I assist you in any way?”
“It is good to see you Mayor.” I stressed the title and Taiyou beamed with pride. A Tri-U pendent shined on the collar of his tunic. “I’m passing through.”
“There is a matter for you. Hermes and I kept the tension to a minimum as you would have, but Gi’Ger has sent you a new crewman.” He nervously pointed to a modular domicile near the Cresche’s stairs very near to our first landing here. “The Lo’Mor’h is a dead caste.” Hermes blurted without care. Taiyou’s eyes grew large with concern. “What Hermes means, is that the person is a former Kog. His is very much alive over there. And creepy!”
“I made no mention of his current living state.” Hermes was argumentative as usual. The two stood side by side in their functional opposition.
“What did you mean by dead caste?” I asked patiently.
“The Keepers of the Garden are no more. His caste before was a forgotten caste.” The mechanical female voice of Engit rang clear from the collective. “The dark castes all but disappeared with the weeding of the Sori. His caste is marked. His caste is subject to filling the gaps.” Hermes cycled his lights and buzzed and hummed. The collective was in unison again. “That Lo’Mor’h is without a caste.”
“I will see to this now.” I said calmly and walked by my two confidants.
The mesh like structure was hardly suitable for a long stay. I am not certain as to how long this Mor’h, casteless or not had lived here. And why would Gi’Ger abandon him here? Gi’Ger rarely if ever left the Rootworks. I closed my eyes and focused on the links around me and found the being inside aware but did not make contact in the sharing. “Hello!” I used a greeting Dae was known to use, she said it was being cordial and polite. I saw a form move along the module as light cut through the canvas.
“Reign of the Stars, I am Ja’Tivi and I am yours by caste.” Half of this Lo’Mor’h’s face and head was heavily tattooed. The tattoo was marked deep red with a tribal laced edge, it
resembled variegation in plants. His eyes sat sunken and deeply hollowed. For a Lo’Mor’h he was intimidating. The vacuum suit he wore was black with red trim and worn. “Why has Gi’Ger sent you here? Why are you casteless?” I asked carefully.
He remained silent. I sensed for him to accept or deny a link. There was no change. “I will link with you if you do not wish to speak.” I said with some authority. Again there was no response. I linked and his mind held little more to discover than a long history of being misplaced. At was as if his entire history was wiped with each new recycling. Even he had no reason for a connection to the Kog. I broke the link. “If I allowed you a new future; to make your own history, would you follow me?”
“How would you make this so?” He spoke without moving and seemingly confused.
“We all are now Keepers of the Garden. I hold the Cresche and I can see to it that your next incarnation would remember.” My words were shortly followed with his head turning to meet my stare. “Then it’s settled. You are no longer casteless. I see your history is muddied but you are capable. Security maybe?” I paused for a moment and lifted my COM. “Brigs.” I let the network connect to his device.
